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1977
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| Hilborough Mill
River Wissey |
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1977
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Hilborough
watermill originally belonged to the Hilborough Estate. It was quite a
long building constructed of yellow brick with a slate roof. The mill
house was under the same roofline but was only interconnected to the mill
by a door at roof level. The undershot wheel was 13' in diameter and 5'
3" wide and ran three sets of stones. There is one lucum on the front
of the mill and another on the gable end. |
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Front
& rear of the mill 16th October 1977
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Royal Exchange Fire Insurance policy 62857 |
Francis Chandler of Hilborough in the County of Norfolk, Miller & Baker. On his Dwelling House, Stable & Water Corn Mill house adjoining & on the Mills together with the Running Tackle & other Parts of the Machinery belonging to the same Water Corn Millhouse situate in Hilborough aforesaid, £270. On Household Furniture therein, £100. On Utensils & Goods in Trade in the same, £100. On 5 Horses in the said Stables not exceeding £10 on any 1 Horse, £40. On a Bakehouse adjoining the said House but having no Communication brick & stone built & tiled, £80. On Utensils & Goods in Trade therein, £5. On the New Stable in the Yard belonging, £10. On three Horses therein not exceeding £10 on any one Horse, £10. On Cartshed adjoining together in the same Yard, £10. On Utensils & Goods in Trade therein, £10. On Tub House & Offices adjoining brick built & tiled situate in the Yard aforesaid, £15. All the said Buildings except those otherwise mentioned being brick & timber built & thatch'd. 28th February 1774 |
Jacob Mason Bird was running the mill in the 1840s and in 1848 he had a son, Frederick Augustus Bird, who went on to found Bird's_mill at Downham Market. Jacob Mason Bird's father was also called Jacob Bird and he was the miller at Fincham_postmill for at least 20 years. |
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Mr. Leeds, Hillborough.
Sir, I beg leave to lay before you an Estimate to take out the old wood spur wheel at Hillbro' Mill and to Make a new cast iron one in halves, chipped, filled and put together with good strong bolts and fixed in the place of the old one. - hamm'd iron plates let into upright shaft and make the four pairs of folden wedges of dry oak to hang the wheel, to gear the wheel with good hornbeam or appletree cogs, to be dovetailed and pin'd into wheel, to fix the stones in the proper place so that the nuts gear properly. - To pitch, trim and turn one of the stone nuts and make it the same pitch as the wheel and other nuts. The above work made and fixed in a workmanlike manner and delivered at the Brandon Station for the Sum of Thirty Pounds, Five Shillings and Ninepence. |
| £30. 5. 9. March 1st, 1850. |
Yours &c. John S. Buttifant. |
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April
1967
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The mill had ceased working by the 1960s. When I went there in the 1960s and 1970s it seemed to be a magical place with a strong atmosphere. Everything appeared to be just as it was on the day the last worker left years before, even an old brown coat was hanging on its hook by one of the grain chutes. All the machinery lay ghostly and still. The only alteration was that the water authority had removed the wheel paddles in order to allow the river to flow freely. |
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Grain
chutes and tuns in 16th October 1977
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Two
stone tuns 1977 |
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The
paddless wheel 16th October 1977
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The mill was surveyed by NIAS in November 1977. Most of the machinery was intact and included all the wheel gearing, 3 sets of stones, flour screens, a chaffcutter, bucket conveyors, sack hoists, chutes and bins. In 1977 the hydraulic ram made by John Blake Ltd of Accrington, situated in a shed to the front of the mill was still in use pumping water to Hilborough Hall. |
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Mill
dam April 1967
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The
gable end lucum in October 1971 |
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The building
was grade 2 listed on 5th September 1991. By this time the complex was
owned by Bowes of Watton. Bowes wished to make the necessary building
repairs themselves and were in dispute with the Department of the Environment
who wished to carry out a compulsory purchase. |
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Rear
renovation c.1995
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Front
renovation c.1995 |
On 30th August 1972 Horace Freestone of Hilborough wrote to Harry Apling to say that he had formerly been at Little Cressingham Mill and also Hilborough Watermill. |
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9th
March 2003
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My name is Peter Bird and I am the son of the late Algy Bird who was the last of the Birds to mill flour in Norfolk. I have been endebted to your website for some early history of my forbears and where they lived, and I would like to express my gratitude for the efforts you have made. |
Just browsing the site looking for a picture of something else, when the watermill caught my eye. Remember my dad showing me pics of this as a child and also taking me but it had fallen to ruin and was unsafe to enter, and telling me my great grandfather used to run it. My dad is Adrian Rodwell Joel, his mother was Sybil Emma Rodwell, so assuming Frederick Rodwell is my great grandfather. |
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9th October 2008 |
HILBOROUGH MILL has, over recent years, undergone a meticulous programme of modernization and refurbishment, cleverly combining the Grade II listed former watermill and miller's house into a superb home of approximately 8000 sq ft which provides both flexible family accommodation and enviable entertainment space and facilities. It stands in approximately 7.5 acres (STS) of extensively landscaped grounds, centred round a river and mill pond, with hard tennis and petanque courts and a detached summer dining room with professionally fitted wine cellar. The combination is split between the miller's house and water mill, connected at first-floor level and providing both formal and informal living accommodation and sympathetically retaining much of the original integrity and machinery of a working mill. Hilborough Mill is at the end of a long tree-lined driveway which passes All Saints Church. |
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O. S. Map 1883 |
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O.S. Map 2005 Image reproduced under licence from Ordnance Survey |
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1774: Francis Chandler, miller & baker, insured the mill for £270 with Royal Exchange Fire Insurance |
If you have any memories, anecdotes or photos please let us know and we may be able to use them to update the site. By all means telephone 07836 675369 or
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| Nat Grid Ref TL82729995 | Copyright © Jonathan Neville 2003 |